Waking Up Slow - Archive Only
by SusieSamurai
Summary: Story being rewritten - this is only being kept as an archive for the wonderful reviews I received.
1. Prologue: Famous Last Words

Prologue

 _Famous Last Words_

As it turns out dying isn't as easy as the media leads you to believe.

There aren't any melancholic strings rising in the background to signal a moment of sadness, no flattering camera angle that gives you a sense of elegance and dignity in your final moments, no single tear that curves down your cheek as you draw your last breath.

Instead, it's the sound of screeching metal before your entire world implodes, the high-pitched shattering of glass before your ears pop and suddenly it sounds like you're screaming underwater. Everything is moving both too fast and too slow.

Pain and I have never been particularly intimate. I've always been a cautious person, not much of a risk-taker, and as such the worst physical pain I've ever had to experience has been period cramps and the occasional stitch when I've been forced to move faster than a leisurely jaunt. So when I'm flung from the back-seat of the car with enough force that the seat-belt makes my ribs crackle then break with the effort to keep me in place, I'm unashamed of the howl of _agony_ that escapes my lungs. Until of course it's cut off with a choke as I collide back into my seat _hard_ , my gasping breaths wet in my chest.

My mouth is full of the metallic tang of blood from where I've almost bit clean through my tongue and I can vaguely feel it spill from the corners of my lips. It's a surreal feeling, as the pain travels throughout my body lighting up my nerve-endings like a Christmas tree when the car finally comes to a standstill and time seems to stop. In the blink of an eye, my hearing comes rushing back, more heightened than ever, as over my harsh breathing I can hear the slight tinkling of glass settling and creaking metal. In the front seat both of my parents are silent, something I don't have a chance to dwell on as coughs wrack my body and blood froths against my lips.

My chest feels heavy and full and I dimly acknowledge that I am drowning in my own blood.

Help won't be coming. It's 10:30 pm and we were driving down a back road when the deer had leaped out onto the road, causing my father to swerve to the side and ultimately into the tree we were now wrapped around. Fate, it seemed, was a fickle bitch. At some point, I had begun a low keening in my throat, the only way I could physically express my pain.

As more blood dripped down my chin and my vision went dark around the edges, I couldn't help but think _so this is the way the world ends - not with a bang but with a whimper_.

As I grew colder, my final thought was that even when I was dying I was dramatic as fuck.

* * *

 **AN: Hi guys! This is my first foray into reincarnation fic and I really hope you all like where I take it! These kinds of fics have always been my guilty pleasure and I just couldn't handle using the amazing world of Fairy Tail to finally dip my toe in - hopefully the water's fine! This is a really short prologue, but I promise to have the first chapter up soon. I look forward to hearing your thoughts, and while this is an OCxNatsu fic it is incredibly slow-burn. For a myriad of reasons, their relationship isn't going to be a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am affair. Especially with Cass' knowledge and opinions of the characters from her past life - her OTP literally stands in the way of her even thinking of pursuing anything more than friendship with Natsu, to begin with. Something which will be a cause of great humor, angst, and exasperation for all involved.**

 **Anyways, hope you stick around for the ride!**

 **-susiesamurai xoxo**


	2. Introducing Cassandra Rosalie Heartfilia

Chapter One

 _Introducing Cassandra Rosalie Heartfilia_

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail, nor do I receive any form of financial gain from this work of fiction.

* * *

I was born Cassandra Rosalie Heartfilia, twin sister of Lucy and daughter of Layla and Jude one summer evening.

After Lucy had been delivered, both of my parents were shocked when I arrived only minutes later. After all, they hadn't been told to expect twins. I was completely and utterly unexpected. A "pleasant surprise" as my mother would later explain to me with a soft smile on her face. A fucking plot-twist is the way I will one day describe it during a fit of hysterics.

While my sister had been loud, crying out after being thrust into this harsh new world, I had been described as curiously quiet. So quiet that as my father held me in his arms while my mother tried to comfort Lucy mere feet away he worried that I may not even be breathing. Thankfully his worries were put to rest the moment my eyes fluttered open and my liquid chocolate eyes locked onto his with a gaze that was disarmingly aware.

An old soul they called me.

I was a strangely calm infant, only making a noise when it was to communicate that something was wanted or needed. It apparently unnerved the servants, a few of them actually putting the ridiculous notion into my mother's head that there was something wrong with me. No child was naturally that quiet. No child had that slight spark of knowing in their eyes as they followed the motions of someone moving through a room. Whispered words eventually bothered my mother enough that she enlisted the help of a medical mage to allay any doubts that I was anything less than a 3 month old child.

The mage had proclaimed me healthy and normal as anything, commenting offhandedly how they couldn't fathom why having a placid child would be a bad thing. Something my father agreed with. While Jude initially had trouble bonding with my sister, who had a strong pair of lungs and no qualms about letting anyone in earshot know about it, you would often find him holding me in his arms. My silence appealed to him, putting the stoic businessman at ease.

Growing older, it soon became clear that I was more advanced than my sister, picking up things much faster than she was. A prodigy, they called me. Still, I diligently encouraged my sister to catch up. Despite being the younger of us, I was the one to correct her when she struggled and hold her when the frustrations got too much. Never letting her feel as though the reason I picked up basic motor-skills and speech more easily was that she was was stupid.

Even at such a young age, I was fiercely protective of my sister. We had shared our mother's belly for 9 months, slept side by side in the years following; she was my soulmate, not in the romantic sense of the word, she was the type of soulmate who completes you in ways where you thought you were already whole. Whenever our father would gaze at her with disappointment in his eyes if Lucy happened to stumble over something, I would be quick to defend her with all the righteous fury of a toddler with a highly limited vocabulary. A trend that continued the older we became and the more our mother succumbed to her illness, no longer able to keep her husband in line herself. A role I found surprisingly easy to slip into with my ever increasing arsenal of words at my disposal.

Nobody would tell us what exactly was wrong with our mother, after all, we were only children. How on Earthland were we to comprehend Magic Deficient Disorder? It wasn't as though Lucy hadn't been able to summon her first Celestial Spirit at age 8 or that I probably had more knowledge about the history of magic than all of the medical mages invited to the Heartfilia Estate combined. But, as always, the adults were omniscient and we were simply stupid little girls fit for nothing more than pretty dresses and tea parties.

We were 10 years old when our mother died.

It was raining as I held hands with Lucy, while our father loomed stoic over us with an umbrella in hand. I watched with silent tears running down my cheeks while my sister attempted to cover up the sounds of her sniffles after a disapproving glance from our father. Eyes narrowing I grasped her hand tighter and pulled her closer against my side, unsurprised when she turned completely to bury her face against my neck. My skin twitched at the feel of her hot tears spilling under the collar of my frilly black dress, identical to hers, but I refused to pull away.

Our father was useless in the art of comfort. His impressive moustache finding itself firmly planted on his often talked about 'stiff upper lip'. Sometimes I fantasized about shaving off those dark blonde whiskers in the middle of the night.

In front of us, the mahogany casket holding our mother was gilded by the rain as it's lowered into the earth at our feet. Layla Heartfilia had finally succumbed to her illness at the tender age of 29, leaving behind far too many people who had loved her dearly. Leaving behind two young girls who desperately needed her to stay.

At the thought, my breath hitched in my throat and I hiccuped slightly before getting myself under control. Heartfilia's grieve with dignity - my father had drilled those words into our heads the previous evening when he had clearly outlined how he expected us to act at the funeral. Jude Heartfilia had always been a stern man, but with the passing of our mother, something in his eyes had gone cold. When he could bear to look at us, that was. I knew that it hurt Lucy, that our father had withdrawn rather than cling to us in comfort.

A sister is all very well and good, but sometimes all a girl wants is her daddy.

Tracking the caskets descent I flinched as a sharp pain assaulted my temple, squeezing my eyes shut as the feeling quickly passed. Opening them I was met with Lucy's large eyes gazing at me in concern, her tears making them look like liquid chocolate. My lips pulled into what I hoped was a reassuring smile but probably looked like more of a grimace. While I wanted nothing more than to fall apart the way Lucy was, I knew that I couldn't. One of us had to stay strong, and as the responsible twin, that role fell to me.

I had promised our mother after all, and Heartfilia's never broke their promises. In that moment though, I couldn't help but hate being the 'responsible one'.

We were made to stay there until our father pushed us forward with a firm hand on my shoulder. Lucy stumbled at the sudden movement but I quickly righted her as we approached Layla Heartfilia's final resting place. The white rose in my hand felt as though it were made from lead and I hardly registered that I was gripping it tight enough that a stray thorn had pierced the soft flesh of my palm. My blood stained the soft petals red as I let it fall from my fingers and drop softly against the wood that was so polished it looked like glass.

While Lucy dropped her own rose with a choked sob I stared down at my reflection, the rain running down the stubborn set of my jaw. Single-minded, my mother had always called me. Her determined little girl who would one day conquer the world.

When I later collapsed on my bed, wet and defeated with my sister clutching me like I was the only thing anchoring her to the universe, I couldn't help but think that I didn't want to conquer the world.

I just wanted my mom back.

Eventually, we had cried ourselves to sleep, curled around each other. And somehow my grief-exhausted state had weakened whatever was blocking my memories, allowing them to burst through like someone had opened the floodgates. It was terrifying and visceral. An unrelenting assault on my psyche that culminated in an ever-increasing pressure against the inside of my skull. For one horrific moment, I fancied that my head was actually going to explode.

Images wrapped themselves around my mind. Sounds and smells, the feel of someone's skin on mine, a light wind lifting my hair and the smell of sunlight on my skin. Suddenly I was no longer 10-year-old Cassandra Rosalie Heartfilia, but 18-year-old Lorelei Cheryl Ryder. Brown hair, blue eyes and freckles. Tall and slender with a wide smile and large tortoise-shell glasses in an effort to look like Zooey Deschanel in New Girl.

I remembered my first words, my favourite colour, how chicken nuggets were like my family. When I went to my first concert, when I got my driver's license on the first go, my first hangover after my first high school party. My first love tucking my hair behind my ear after I gave him my virginity at Junior Prom. Crying into my pillow when we broke up a year later when he told me he was going to a college on the opposite side of the country.

My parents beaming with pride as I accepted my diploma, now a high school graduate and on my way to UCLA to study astrophysics - a field inspired by my favourite anime.

Fucking Fairy Tail.

As I came to the realisation that I was somehow living in a fictional universe created by Hiro fricking Mashima, a broken scream tore from my throat startling Lucy awake.

Blood was thick in my nose along with the scent of burning rubber. I clawed desperately at the silk bedding as I relived the final moments of my past life, absolutely certain that I was once again drowning in my own blood. I hacked and coughed, trying to clear my lungs of phantom fluid, too caught up in the onslaught of sensations to remind myself that it wasn't real. I wasn't aware of my sister's fingers curling around my wrists as she tried to stop my frantic movements. Of her frightened voice warbling loudly for me to stop. I couldn't even feel the hot tears coating my cheeks or how my heart was fit to burst from my chest.

I had died. I had died and somehow been reborn as Lucy Heartfilia's twin sister. I had been obsessed with Fairy Tail when I was Rory McAdams. I would devour fanfiction. I would religiously wake up early on Monday mornings to eagerly read the latest chapter of the manga. For god's sake, I had cosplayed as Erza freaking Scarlet one year at SDCC with my friends. I had a Tumblr dedicated to my Ultimate OTP of Jerza.

And now I was in the world I was once so emotionally invested in. Oh, the irony.

Turns out my 10-year-old body couldn't handle the ongoing trauma of realising it had the mind of an 18-year-old shoved into it, and I could quickly feel myself start to go into shock. As I heard Lucy's frightened shouts of my name I felt a numbness spread throughout my body. Quick as my fit had started, it ended, as I finally, finally, succumbed to the sweet oblivion of unconsciousness.

In my previous life pain and I had never been particularly intimate, but we sure as hell were now.

* * *

During the days following my awakening, I began making plans.

Unsure of just how much my existence would change the series of events put into place by Hiro Mashima, I knew preparations needed to be made. I couldn't disregard the idea of the 'butterfly effect' and I was sure my death and subsequent reincarnation had stirred some pretty stiff winds. All I could hope was that things turned out better for me than they did for Ashton Kutcher.

Luckily, Jude had merely written off my breakdown as the 'grief-stricken antics of a child'. Simply expressing that such behaviour was something he would expect from Lucy and not me. That comment had made me bare my teeth in something reminiscent of an animal's snarl as I had to stop myself from snapping back with a series of words that would never have left my lips when I was simply Cassandra. Rather than this weird bastardisation of who I used to be and who I had become.

Honestly, being an 18-year-old in a 10-year-old's body was damn irritating. Especially once I came to the conclusion that I'd have to suffer through puberty a second time. Being Lucy's twin sister meant that it was only a matter of time until I was all tits and ass, I couldn't help but wonder how she had never over-balanced before being so blatantly top-heavy. All I could hope for was that my period wasn't so much of a pain in the ass in this body as my previous one, where my cramps would reduce me to huddling in the fetal position under a blanket in tears for at least two days a month. Ugh, having ovaries fucking _sucked_.

Unlike Jude, Lucy was an entirely different kettle of fish.

My actions had shaken her and she only clung tighter to me because of it, frightened I would leave her the same way Layla had. Despite my fascination with Lucy in my past life, I couldn't see her as the fictional character I once had. After 10 years she was my sister, my best friend, and my soulmate. When I thought about the hardships she would start enduring soon enough, a fierce protectiveness overcame me.

That very emotion was what had driven me to be awake at 2am sitting with my back against the bathroom door while my pen scratched furiously across the pages of a leather-bound journal. The familiar kanji bloomed against the thick creamy paper and I was grateful that despite Hiro Mashima being Japanese himself, that language didn't seem to exist in whatever alternate universe this was. It seemed languages like English, Latin, and French did, however. Something I found highly confusing - of all languages you would feel the tongue of this worlds creator would be the most commonplace instead of entirely absent.

Not that I was complaining, of course. If what I was documented ever feel into the wrong hands it could spell unadulterated disaster to befall Fiore. I did contemplate if I was being an idiot for all of 10 minutes, but then came to the conclusion that the risk was worth it. So there I sat, the cold tiles making my tailbone ache until it blessedly went numb, as I recounted as much of the storyline of Fairy Tail as I could remember.

It was 5 nights until I was finally done.

At 2am I would slip out of the bed I was sharing with my sister, replacing my body with a pillow she would instantly latch onto, and retreat into the bathroom with a candle. Then I would write down the adventures I was once so emotionally invested in my candlelight, only retreated back to bed once the flame was eventually drowned in the pool of melted wax. I tried to keep it to bullet-points, rather than some flowery epic that no one but myself would ever be able to read.

And once that was done, I started making lists.

Planning out what actions I would take from here on out. What skills I would have to learn, what skills I would have to encourage Lucy to learn. When we would escape from the estate and our father's clutches because I knew that was inevitable. Just as I knew that somehow we would end up calling the most rambunctious and loving guild nestled in Magnolia our home. It was just a matter of when.

Naturally, I was excited to meet the cast of characters I once adored in the flesh. I longed to eat strawberry shortcake with Erza, tease Gray for once again losing his clothes, gush over books with Levy and gossip with Mira over who was hooking up with whom. I couldn't wait to meet Happy and trail my fingers through his soft blue fur and discuss the finer points of fishing.

But most of all, I couldn't wait to meet Natsu.

After Lucy, Natsu had been my favourite fictional character ever. Brave, loyal, and kind Natsu. The one character that didn't deserve all the shit he got put through. Who still saw the world with an enviable innocence and was as quick to fight someone as he was to become their friend. He was someone who had suffered hardship and loneliness and all it had done was made him kind.

I desperately wanted to be his friend.

After I had finished my list of things I would have to achieve to ensure Lucy and I would survive what was to come, I started another one. This one was slightly more difficult because this one was a list of canon events that I would actively try to alter. It was only when I had filled an entire page with trying to come up with solutions to the tragic pasts that everyone in Fairy Tail seemed to have that I came to a realisation: if I altered those events then there was a very high chance that the Fairy Tail I knew wouldn't even exist. If they hadn't had to suffer through the events that had moulded them into the characters I had so admired, then they would probably never even join a mage guild. Not to mention the chance that my meddling would cause something even worse to befall them instead as the universe's way of trying to right itself.

That was when I decided that I would only interfere with events as I was directly experiencing them. Not being a decision I came to lightly, but one I knew I had to adhere to. It was quite ironic that Jude and Layla had thought to name me Cassandra. In that moment I realised that I shared quite a lot with my ancient Greek namesake, both being in the possession of knowledge but unable to use it to actually save anyone.

Well, at least not yet.

* * *

 **A/N: Well guys, how'd you like that chapter of exposition? haha hopefully you got through it all relatively entertained! I generally hate info-dumps like this, but this is all information I needed to get across and once we're past this we can hurry up and get to the good stuff! I really hope you're all enjoying this so far and if you are don't hesitate to let me know =)**

 **Honestly, tell me your favourite line, your least favourite line, what you'd like to see happen, and any predictions you might have for the future hahaha**

 **Happy reading!**

 **\- susiesamurai**


	3. Pep-Talks By Lady Gaga

Chapter Two

 _Pep-Talks By Lady GaGa_

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail, nor do I receive any form of financial gain from this work of fiction.

* * *

The next few years passed faster than I expected they would.

Despite my best attempts, Jude grew as cold and distant as he had in the anime, only interested in our education and, after we hit puberty, our marriage prospects. It was good to know that the patriarchy was alive and kicking in Fiore, forcing their gender ideals on helpless heiresses everywhere. Every time I saw a new lace and silk monstrosity laid out on my bed in preparation for yet another business dinner where I was expected to sit still and look pretty while men 10 years my senior spoke to my tits, I threw up in my mouth a little.

The feminist I was in my previous life launched a protest complete with picket signs and catchy chants inside my head every time I slipped into the role of dutiful daughter.

To maintain the perfect princess persona Lucy and I were forced to uphold, we were tutored in mathematics, history, dance, and etiquette. One small concession our father allowed was a hobby of our choosing - an opportunity I had leapt upon with next to no sense of dignity as I had all but begged to allow us martial-arts lessons. There had been large brown eyes glistening with tears and trembling pinks lips and unashamed use of the word 'daddy'. But I think the real clincher was the presentation I had put together outlining the benefits of Lucy and I being able to physically defend ourselves in the unfortunate situation of either of us ever being kidnapped. I had even included recent statistics of how the abduction of children belonging to wealthy parents was becoming increasingly popular.

I had to stop myself from laughing at the irony of it all, considering he would one day hire Phantom Lord to do that very thing.

Once away from prying eyes I was ensuring Lucy grew her magical capacity in between her magic lessons with Bero. It was soon discovered that I had little talent for summoning. Something that I wasn't overly upset about considering how awkward it would have been for me to divvy out the Zodiac keys between Lucy and I. I couldn't very well protect her with silver keys alone, and I knew there was no way in hell I could ever take any of the golden keys away from her. They were her friends, not mine.

I soon discovered I had my own magic, anyway. A type of magic that had never been heard of before, and was solely unique in its distinct lack of a use of seals or phrases to activate it. I wondered if this had anything to do with my past life for all of 5 minutes before simply being ecstatic about the fact I had _magic_ and decided not to question it in case it decided to take off in an offended huff. I ended up dubbing it Psionic Casting, it was a type of energy manipulation that allowed me to project blasts, waves, and bolts of psionic energy with a mere gesture. Manifesting itself as a form of amaranth mist and electricity that clung to my fingertips and soaked into my skin like sunlight on a lazy summer afternoon.

It was quite frankly, rad as fuck.

Naturally, though, I couldn't allow anyone else to know about this. Except for Lucy, of course. I kept no secrets from Lucy save my previous life. It wasn't that I didn't trust her with the knowledge at all, but rather I wanted to protect her from it. Could you imagine how dangerous it would be if anyone found out about my knowledge? If the Magic Council knew? It would be like the American Government in every single sci-fi film where a team of white-coats would eagerly dissect the suspected alien to see if it had compatible genitalia or some shit.

As far as I was concerned the League Of Magical Nitwits could keep their enchanted scalpels far far away from my soft prepubescent skin, thank you very much.

And God forbid Jude to discover it, he'd probably go megalomaniac and make me help him take over the financial world. He already had the facial hair for it and the super tall chair and ridiculously large desk. That chair and desk were borderline impractical, but as a slave to aesthetics myself, I could admire his dedication to emulate a Bond villain.

* * *

When we were 14, Jude made Lucy and I attend our first business dinner with the Junelle family.

Puberty had hit us the year before and it had hit us hard, with the pair of us possessing the bodies of women despite still being children. Our etiquette teacher had started instructing us in the art of 'womanly wiles' the moment our father heard about Lucy's terrified breakdown when she woke up to bloodstained sheets. My poor sister had believed she was dying. While I was stroking her hair while she cried on the floor of the shower I cursed our mother for never discussing the finer points of menstruation with her. And myself for not even thinking to give her a heads up. In that moment I declared myself the worst sister ever and mentally pelted myself with tampons as punishment.

But anyway, dinner at the Junelle Estate.

We had been squeezed and pinched into corsets that made it hard to breathe and enough layers of pink silk and frothy white lace to clothe a small army. A number of pins holding my long blonde hair in a ridiculously lavish updo were started to give me a headache as they dug into my scalp, making me even more short-tempered than usual. And seeing as I was normally a volatile powder-keg of emotions at the best of times, any slip of self-control often spelt imminent disaster. More often than not, Lucy was able to keep me in line. Knowing that it was easier to protect her with cool and calm logic than heated words and wild gesticulations.

But I digress.

This particular incident happened halfway throughout the dinner. Sawar Junelle, the son and heir of the Junelle family, had insisted from the beginning that Lucy be the one to sit next to him. Despite the two of us being identical down to our hairstyles and shade of lipstick, there was a certain softness that set Lucy apart from me. My sister didn't have the same level of cynicism in her eyes that I did as a result of living out two lifetimes and that often made her infinitely more appealing in the eyes of the disgusting older men our father paraded us in front of. Between the two of us, it was simply assumed that Lucy would be the wife easier to break in, less defiant and opinionated and educated. They were wrong, the difference being that Lucy knew how to pick her battles whereas I did not. If anything, I could probably do with putting a few battles back.

A point Lucy made often enough that we had a routine memorised for it.

So when I noticed Lucy stiffen beside me as a result of Sawarr's large hand resting on her thigh, I drove my knife into the roast duck on my plate with enough force that I launched a caramelised carrot clear across the table with the most unholy screech of serrated silver against fine china. Uncaring of the eyes locked on me along with the varying expressions of disapproval, or my father's thinly veiled rage-mask. I could feel my growing resentment of Jude coiling in my stomach with every second that he stood aside and said nothing in regards to the sexual harassment Lucy and I suffered.

If he wouldn't do anything, I sure as fuck would. Screw him and his reputation.

Within seconds I had my fingers locked around Sawarr's wrist as I forcibly removed his hand from my sister, eyes narrowing at the damp handprint he had left on the pale pink silk of her skirt. I knew my actions would yield punishment, that I was embarrassing our father and bringing dishonour upon myself, the Heartfilia name, and possibly a non-existent cow, but in that moment not a single fuck was given. All I cared about was the revolting man, who I was holding tightly enough that the thin bones in his wrist started to grind together, that had dared to touch my sister like she was a prisoner of the Playboy Mansion.

When I spoke, it was even and controlled, and there was no mistaking the threat beneath the words that spilt from a saccharine smile:

"How clumsy, it seems you've mistaken my sister's leg for your own. I'm sure you won't be making that mistake again."

The ' _because if you do, I will curbstomp you through the Earth and into the fucking moon you piece of misogynistic shit'_ goes unspoken, though I felt that I conveyed it through aggressive eye-contact alone.

Letting go of his wrist I once again took up my utensils in hand before placing a bite-sized piece of duck between my lips, making a show of chewing then swallowing without breaking eye-contact with an increasingly perspiring Sawarr Junelle. Finished, I turned to Lucy with a blinding smile and proclaimed, "Luce you have _got_ to try this duck. So _moist_."

I felt a surge of accomplishment rush through me as I pictured our father no doubt shuddering in revulsion at my use of the word 'moist'. How anyone could have a physical reaction to a _word_ is beyond me, but I wasn't above getting a sick pleasure out of it.

Eventually, the rest of the dinner guests went back to their own meals and decidedly boring conversations while I pointedly ignored Jude's furious gaze burning into the side of my head. Those dark eyes promising retribution for the embarrassment I had caused him that night. At the time I hadn't cared, arrogantly believing I could handle anything he threw at me. After all, not a lot scared you once you had experienced the sweet sweet embrace of death.

That was a mistake.

Jude Heartfilia was a lot of things, but he wasn't an idiot. He had an uncanny ability to be able to pinpoint a person's weakness and exploit it - something that probably aided in his rise to being such an industrialist. It just happened that this was the first time he had ever used that on me. Due to the bond we had forged before Layla's death and the return of my memories he often went easy on me. Any disciplinary action consisting of a raised voice and relatively empty threats, despite my constant challenges to his authority.

But not this time.

Instead of going after me, Jude went after my sister, attacking my weak point with the sort of pinpoint precision I would expect from a heart surgeon. The result being the same as if he had cracked open my chest and torn into my heart with a scalpel when the broken sob tore from Lucy's mouth as he announced he would be taking her keys.

As Lucy clung to me that night, sobbing into my neck while I ran my hands soothingly through her hair whispering apologies, I vowed to never put Lucy's happiness at risk again. No matter how angry I got, I needed to bide my time until we were free.

That was the beginning of Jude Heartfilia's cruelty. It was 2 weeks before Lucy received her keys back, and I had requested that she summon Aquarius, Cancer, and Taurus for me to apologise and take the blame for Lucy having lost them.

Taurus seemed to like my tits too much to bother holding a grudge, and when my left eye started to twitch in increasing frustration as the celestial minotaur continued to stare at my chest with heart-eyes Lucy dismissed him before things got messy. Cancer forgave me without question, commenting offhandedly about how I should have cut Sawarr's hand off. And Aquarius simply attempted to drown me in the bath while calling me a stupid little girl and threatening to actually kill me if I ever had Lucy summon her from a _bath_ again. I had to stop myself from shouting at her that I was technically in my 30's and to _shut the fuck up_.

That was the moment I insisted that Lucy learned to requip, so that nobody could take her keys from her again. Like in the anime, Lucy's lack of confidence in her magical abilities stood in my way. That self-doubt was something I had trouble relating to.

Like Lucy, I was a bit vain with a tendency to be an attention-whore - in my past life I would often act out for attention or say the most scandalous things to elicit a response. I was also highly arrogant of my abilities. Pride would always be my biggest flaw. And coming into this world with the previous knowledge I had only exacerbated this, making me sometimes believe I was untouchable since I already knew how everything would play out.

Of course, that wasn't the case, and my Oedipus level hubris - minus the incest - was quickly proving to be my downfall in most confrontations. A trend I could honestly see continuing into the future to my frustration.

I often forgot that Lucy didn't have the same experiences that I had had to fall back on. The things that I found old-hat were new and daunting for the 14-year-old girl. Our etiquette lessons had served to give Lucy confidence in her looks, but that was the only thing the girl had confidence in. Even her talents were so riddled with insecurities it had taken her 4 separate attempts to admit to me that she was trying her hand at writing a novel. I had encouraged her with suitable exuberance, insisting that she let me read it and subtly influencing her creative direction.

* * *

One night Lucy was having a particularly hard time practising her requip magic, studying from a book I had procured through Bero under the guise of being interested in the field from a purely academic point of view. After hearing her curse under her breath for the umpteenth time, she fell backwards onto the carpet and gripped at her hair in frustration.

"Cassie I'm never gonna get this!"

"Sure you will!" I cheered automatically from where I was sprawled over the bed above her, half of my attention still on the book I was reading about the history of Fiore.

"No, I won't!" Lucy wailed as she wiggled in frustration. "Aquarius is right! I'm just a dumb little girl who will never get a boyfriend and will die a spinster with 23 cats!"

It was proclamations like that that left no doubt in my mind that we were related.

Glancing out of the balcony doors I was happy to see that it was a clear night. Standing over my sister's prone body, I held out my hand and waggled it in her face until she gripped it and allowed me to tug her to her feet. It was the time of year when the Leo constellation would be perfect for viewing and I admitted that gazing at the stars that made him up made me feel closer to my favourite celestial spirit.

"Come on Drama-Queen, looks like you could do with a break."

Leading her out to the balcony, I snagged one of the blankets on the back of the loveseat along the way. Dropping down onto the cool stone I tugged Lucy down with me, throwing the blanket around our shoulders and pulling her close to my side. Resting my cheek against her crown I tucked her head underneath my chin while she curled one arm around my waist. Soon enough things descended into our most common competition of who could spot the most constellations, and then who could name the most stars.

"You're not gonna be a spinster with 23 cats," I told her when we had finally named the last star in the sky and were simply sitting in content silence. "I'll have you know that that role will undoubtedly belong to me."

"Okay, so we'll be spinsters together. 46 cats between us."

Chuckling at the resignation in her voice I kissed the top of her head, "You're going to fall in love Luce. You're gonna meet a boy who makes you smile, and laugh, and you're going to struggle remembering what life was like without him in it. I promise. Just please remember to visit your crazy cat lady sister."

Images of dark green eyes and blossom pink hair played through my mind as I assured Lucy of her epic romance to come. An ear-splitting grin and infectious laugh, warm hands and an even warmer heart. Once she met Natsu in Hargeon everything would fall into place, and I had to remind myself that I would have to step back from my role as protector to let the pink-haired dragonslayer take over. The majority of NaLu moments were when they were both facing extreme danger together, or when Natsu was there to pick up the pieces when Lucy finally broke. Sometimes I wondered if Mashima just _really_ enjoyed drawing Lucy crying.

Turning her face towards mine, Lucy blinked her big brown eyes at me as they sparkled with mirth. "You're going to find that too, Cassie!" She assured me with a sly grin. "There's gotta be at least one guy out there who's brave enough to put up with you!"

"Why you little!" Narrowing my eyes at her in offense, Lucy's laughter soon turned to shrieks as the hand around her shoulders dropped to her ribs and started tickling in earnest. It soon descended into an all-out tickle war, both of us being intimately familiar with the places on each other's bodies that when touched most likely would result in a foot to the face in retaliation. Moments like this I felt more like the 14-year old I was supposed to be and like my past self was slowly slipping away the more I immersed myself in my new existence.

Once we had finally sobered, now laying splayed out across the balcony with our heads nestled in the curve of the other's shoulder, I turned my face so my nose brushed against her cheek. "I really wish you had more confidence in yourself Luce," my words sounded too-loud in the cool night air, despite the fact that I had spoken barely above a whisper, "You are so much more than what you think you are. What our asshole father has made you think you are."

"I'm not like you, Cassie," Lucy finally whispered into the night, "I'm not brave or clever or talented. I'm just pretty. Sometimes I wonder if I was the 'mistake'."

"Bullshit!" I sat up so that I could stare down at her, seeing the sheer frustration on my face reflected in her eyes. "You are so much more than _just pretty_ ," I spat the words out mockingly, "You are _beautiful_. You are kind and forgiving and have an enviable capacity for love. You were born absolutely fucking _perfect_ and I have had enough of you being ashamed of it. God makes no mistakes and you were born this way for a reason. You were _born_ for a _reason_."

While tears welled up in Lucy's eyes I realised the sheer amount of Lady Gaga references I had used in my pep-talk. And quite frankly, I couldn't find a single fuck to give about it. Lucy could do with some of Mother Monster's wisdom right about now and she should count herself lucky I hadn't started singing yet. If it came to that though, I damn well would. Unlike my previous body, this one wasn't tone deaf and could actually hold a tune quite well.

My daydreams of an impromptu Lady Gaga covers concert were interrupted by Lucy launching herself at me and attempting to strangle me with her skinny little arms. My own arms instantly came up and around her, holding her firmly against me, as she sniffled into my neck.

"I love you so much," Her words were muffled against my skin, but they still managed to make me feel like I was basking in sunlight, "I promise to start loving myself just as much."

"That's a pretty bold claim there Luce, I mean I love you with the power of a thousand suns exploding into a supernova of kittens and rainbows."

Hearing her wet laughter against my neck assured me that my romantic-comedy love-confession had done the trick. Ah, nothing like lame with extra cheese to break the tension. On a more serious note, however, I truly hoped that my sister would start to love herself as much as I did and seeing herself as the amazing person she was instead of just a pretty doll to sell to the highest bidder.

Eventually I would have to hand over the role of protector to Natsu, but for now, I was more than content to make the most of being Lucy's hero myself.

* * *

 **AN: Hi everyone! This is the last chapter before we jump into the main Fairy Tail storyline - that's right team, we're off to Hargeon! Thank you so much to everyone who has followed or favourited this story so far, I'm hoping you're enjoying it! I've also come to the decision that if a chapter receives 4 reviews, I'll post a Sneak Peek of upcoming chapters after my Authors Notes. I'm happy enough not to do this, but if you're eager to know what's coming up next drop me a line and let me know what you want to see =)**

 **Also, I know Cassie's 'voice' has changed a lot in this chapter compared to the previous one. This is partly because of the timeskip - I mean she's a bit older now - but also because her old personality of Rory McAdams is marrying up with her current personality of Cassie Heartfilia. Rory was a sarcastic, feminist, dramatic, foul-mouthed meme-lover lol so pair that with over-protective child prodigy and we get a very BIG personality.**

 **In My Dreams 0220: Thanks, I look forward to seeing where I take this too! Hopefully, you enjoy the ride haha**

 **dreamerwithapen: I'm stoked that you're loving Cassie as much as I do. Plus doesn't everyone desperately want to be friends with Natsu? I mean, come on, the guy is like GOALS lol**

 **Aguyinasushibar: I'm super happy that you like what I'm doing so far! I promise my chapters will get longer once we reach the more nitty gritty action, I'm just not wanting to drag this backstory and exposition out too much right now.**

 **Ink Outside The Lines: Yasss I'm so happy you're enjoying this! I promise this is the last chapter that will be so exposition heavy - this was just the easiest way I felt to get you guys all the information needed to not be completely lost when we get to the fun stuff. And as for looking forward to Cassie meeting the rest of the Fairy Tail gang - you and me both my guy! There is definitely gonna be a bit of 'this isn't quite as I remember it' moments, which will be a lot of fun! I hope lol**

 **As always, happy reading!**

 **\- susiesamurai xo**


	4. Fast Times At Hargeon Port

Chapter Three

 _Fast Times At Hargeon Port_

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail, nor do I receive any form of financial gain from this work of fiction.

* * *

Walking down the main street of the port town of Hargeon I took an exaggerated deep breath and flung my arms wide, narrowly avoiding hitting an unaware passerby in the face.

"Do you smell that Luce?" I crowed excitedly, "That right there is the smell of freedom!"

Fingers twined through mine, lowering my hand to my side but swinging it happily between the two of us instead. Pink lips twisted in a teasing smile Lucy replied, "Well, sister, freedom smells an awful lot like fish."

The day had finally arrived.

Lucy and I had escaped our gilded cage, marriage proposals to perverted old men, and most importantly the monster our father had become.

I had been putting money aside for this act of defiance over the past 2 years in preparation following Jude's confiscation of Lucy's keys. That act of cruelty had pushed any lingering feelings of guilt away and shot them dead in an alley - Jude Heartfilia had done fucked up right there. Which had resulted in a tidy little nest-egg guaranteed to keep us relatively comfortable until we found our way to Magnolia and the cute little apartment on Strawberry Street that we would have more than enough jewels for the down-deposit.

Escaping the Heartfilia Estate had proven easier than expected, something I'm sure would eventually surface from the depths of my mind as suspicious, but currently, I was just elated to be around _people_ again. People that my family didn't pay. I was so happy that I think I was one jaunty tune away from turning into a Disney princess and launching into a choreographed dance routine through the marketplace.

Not even Lucy's smart-mouthed comments could dampen my mood.

Tugging her eagerly along with me I grinned, "Sister, I would take the smell of fish over death by silk and lace any day!"

Laughter bubbled up from Lucy and soon enough we were running across the salt-stained cobbled streets whooping with happiness while the population of Hargeon probably feared for our sanity. And I couldn't care less what they thought. For the first time in our lives, we actually felt like 16-year-old girls and it was fucking glorious.

When Lucy came to an abrupt stop her grip on my hand was the only thing that stopped me from face-planting. As it was my momentum spun me around her and into the side of the building my sister was staring at with sparkles in her eyes. Peeling myself off the faded blue weatherboards I blinked at the sign next to my face, waiting for my sight to focus so I could make sense of the excessively fancy script taking up most of the sign.

"Ma-gic Sho-ppe," I read aloud slowly once the world stopped spinning around me.

"Can we go in? Can we, can we, can we?" Lucy pleaded next to me, bouncing repeatedly on the balls of her feet and near pulling my arm clear from its socket in her exuberance. "They might sell keys!"

"Shit Luce you just had to ask, not give me a concussion," I rubbed my forehead, thankful for the bangs that would surely cover the lump I could feel forming there already.

Squealing in pure excitement I was left on the front stoop of the shop as Lucy disappeared through the door in a flurry of blonde hair and childish glee. An indulgent smile curved my lips as I followed after her. The interior was cooler than the mid-summer heat outside and I enjoyed the short reprieve, meandering down the aisles while Lucy flitted everywhere like a butterfly on Redbull. Over by the counter, a little old man was twirling around, changing the colour of his shirt with every spin. It was all very exuberant and I was inwardly congratulating him on handling my sister's outburst over this being the only magic shop in town. Seriously though Luce, what did you expect from a fishing town? Unless there was fishing magic. Did fishing magic exist?

Shaking my head at the absurdity of it all I continued browsing the over-stuffed aisles, pulling out the occasional book that caught my eye and flicking through the yellowed pages. While secretly keeping an eye out for enchanted fishing rods and magical lures. When Lucy's high-pitch squeal filled the store I was startled enough that I jumped and almost knocked over a shelf. With a graceful twist of my fingers, the shelf in question was quickly edged in purple energy that billowed like coloured ink through water and righted before I had to pay an exorbitant amount of money for damages caused.

Marching over to where Lucy was clutching a polished wooden box to her chest I arrived to see her grudgingly handing over a fistful of jewel to the shop owner. Seeing my approach, Lucy was quick to hook her arm through mine and march us both out of the door. I could feel my annoyance deflate in the presence of her excitement over procuring a new celestial spirit, if I looked close enough I swore that I could almost see sparkles dancing around her head.

Man did Lucy have me whipped.

"So what spirit did you get?" I drawled, bumping our hips together with a smile.

Face lighting up like Christmas, Lucy held the box against her lips as the curved into a smile. "I got Nikola, the spirit of the little dog!"

Unhooking my arm from hers I instead flung it around her neck and pulled her close, ruffling her hair in the process. "You are just too cute!" I cooed at her, smacking my lips loudly against her cheek when she whined in protest. I was born for this sister stuff, I tell you.

We continued strolling down the street, engaging in light-hearted ribbing and playful nudges, until we were interrupted by a girl hitting me hard in the shoulder as she ran past and causing me to almost strangle Lucy in my desperation not to fall over. Righting myself, I angrily shook my fist at her and screeched, "Watch where you're going asshole!"

When Lucy's expected beratement for my language didn't reach my ears, I glanced over in confusion to see her half leaning over the side of the walkway we were standing on with her hands clasped under her chin and stars in her eyes. Brow furrowed, I followed her line of sight and my eyes widened as I noticed the large crowd of females gathered in the square below around a single male figure. Realisation dawned on me that today was the day that Bora was in Hargeon.

Which meant that Natsu was in Hargeon.

"Those girls said that that's the Salamander!" Lucy gushed as she continued to gaze at the imposter below like he had hung the moon and stars in the sky. I had to stop myself from throwing up in my mouth a little as my gaze narrowed in on the disgusting slave-trader. "He's a famous Fairy Tail wizard!"

Caring more about the wizard whose identity the man below had stolen, I didn't hesitate to tangle my fingers with Lucy's and drag her along behind me as I raced across the cobblestones as fast as I could. Ignoring Lucy's startled shriek from behind me as I all but pulled her arm from her socket I barrelled around a corner and practically flew down the stairs, purple energy blooming beneath the soles of my boots as my magic cushioned my foot-falls so I didn't accidentally break an ankle.

Lucy should just be thankful I hadn't simply launched myself off the side of the railing and into the crowd below - Natsu was here!

As we drew closer I could make out the sound of Bora's oily drawl as he played to the crowd of enchanted girls, remembering the charmed ring he wore too late as my momentum forced us to barrel through the gathered bodies. I managed to pull us up short at the very last moment, purple energy flaring up to stop us from ploughing headlong into the blue-haired slave-trader.

Ugh, he was even more extra up-close. And we're those actual _sparkles_ floating around his head?

Actually, the sparkles weren't all that bad. They brought out the flecks of gold in his dark eyes and painted gilded highlights through his inky blue hair. Was it getting hot in here, or was it just me? As I gazed up at him I couldn't help but hook a finger into the neckline of my baggy T-Shirt and pull it away from my suddenly flushed skin. Was it possible to develop heat-stroke so suddenly? I wondered if I fainted would he give me mouth-to-mouth? Just the thought of his perfect lips on mine caused me to become light-headed and I felt my magic pulse around me in time to the rapid beating of my heart.

"Igneel! Igneeeel" A voice cut through my reverie, slowly growing louder. "Igneel, it's meeee!"

"Who the heck are you?" A raspy male voice drawled in confusion.

Gasping for air as though I had been submerged underwater and finally breached the surface, my head swung around to see a boy my age staring dumbfounded at Bora, broad shoulders slumped in disappointment. My eyes followed the sharp curve of his jaw and pointed chin, a straight nose ending in a slightly upturned tip, wide cheekbones and slanted dark eyes beneath straight brows that were drawn together in consternation. Chapped cupids-bow lips that I expected to be stretched into an ear-splitting grin were instead turned down in disappointment. Eventually, I landed on the mess of watermelon pink hair falling in artful spikes across his forehead and over his ears.

My chest made a horrible sucking sound as my sudden inhalation caused me to almost start choking, my mouth opening and closing rapidly as I stared at the boy with what was surely manic excitement. At least if the awkward side-glance he gave me was any indication that is.

But I didn't care because it was _freaking Natsu_!

I was aware of Lucy tugging on my hand urgently, demanding my attention with a look of frustration, her expression instantly morphing into one of concern at my inspired imitation of a dying fish.

As though he could hear my thoughts, the little blue cat standing next to Natsu peered at me from around a golden-skinned leg with his big brown eyes causing me to near on start hyperventilating. Happy was looking at me. _Happy_ was _looking_ at _me_. Happy and Natsu were here. They were less than 6 feet away from me.

I don't think I reacted this extremely when I met John Barrowman at SDCC in my past life and he hugged me for our photo together. And that had been the highlight of my short life.

"Cassie, are you okay?" Lucy leaned close and whispered to me, her hand pressing against my shoulder-blades as she tried to ground me.

Opening my mouth to either reply or gape at Natsu some more - I wasn't entirely sure if I were being honest - I was instead cut off by Bora striking what I assumed was meant to be a 'dashing' pose and announcing, "I am Salamander! Surely you've heard of me before?"

Remembering my reactions from before, the sheen of sweat covering my skin from the artificial arousal he had somehow magicked out of me, I had the overpowering urge to bathe and not stop until I had scrubbed at least 5 layers of skin off. Gross.

Exchanging a single look, Natsu and Happy abruptly turned on their heel and walked away, the crowd of girls parting to let them go. Their entire beings seemed to radiate despondency and I had the sudden urge to hug them both and never let go. Not that I'd act on it, of course. I hoped, anyway.

I did have a tendency to be terribly impulsive.

Ignoring the dumbfounded expression on Bora's face at the utterly brutal snub by the dragon-slayer and his cat, my booted feet started following the two of them before I had even made the conscious decision to do so. I saw the pink hair, the blue cat, and I went for it.

Besides, if I stayed around Bora any longer I'd probably strangle him with his stupid red pinstripe circus-ring-leader pants.

On our way to catch up with Natsu and Happy we were violently pushed aside by a group of girls who launched themselves at the pink-haired boy with varying battle-cries.

"How dare you snub the great Salamander!"

"He's 100 times hotter than you, you pink-haired loser!"

"You're just jealous you sandal-wearing freak!"

My eyebrows raised as the insults became progressively more personal.

Just when they were getting started on a piece of anatomy most males were overly protective of, Bora decided to put an end to it. Offering Natsu an olive-branch in the form of his autograph, he barely stopped the girls from attacking the dragon-slayer once again when he tried to refuse. Distracting them with an open invitation to Fiore's version of a PlayBoy Yacht, Bora managed to once again stop the situation from escalating - yet not before Natsu had been tossed into a pile of trash-bags I noticed. With all the spectacle of a Vegas show, he bid the girls farewell while disappearing in a flash of purple flames and dramatically billowing cloak. I had to hand it to him, the piece of shit knew how to pander to a crowd.

Once the fangirls had vanished in a cloud of ear-splitting screeches and strangely heart-shaped dust-clouds, Natsu held my undivided attention once again. Chanting 'don't be creepy' repeatedly in my head my too-bright eyes tracked his movements in a way that was undeniably creepy as he moved into a sitting position with a groan of discontent.

"Girls are fuckin' crazy," He grumbled to himself as he pushed a hand through his hair causing a cloud of dust to puff into the air around his head comically.

"Aye, sir!" Happy solemnly agreed from where he lay upside down on the cobbles next to Natsu.

The blue Exceed made a noise of thanks when Natsu's fingers wrapped around his tail and deposited his friend right end up.

"Who the heck was that guy?" Natsu wondered aloud as he rubbed the back of his neck in thought, seemingly unaware of Lucy and myself - Creepy McCreeperson - leering at him.

"I don't know, but he was a real creep!" Lucy burst out as she rubbed her hands over the goosebumps that had spread over the skin of her arms. "Thank you for your help."

"Huh?" Natsu and Happy stared at Lucy, seemingly gobsmacked by her words.

"That loser was using a charm spell or something," Lucy explained, "I was having trouble snapping Cassie out of it until you guys stumbled in - so thank you!"

I snapped my mouth closed with an audible click - when the fuck had I even opened it? - as three pairs of eyes stared in my direction. I felt my face warm up and cursed as my cheeks turned pink with a blush. It was then that Lucy's words really registered to me and I looked at her sharply.

"What do you mean you couldn't snap me out of it?" I demanded. "What about you?"

Lucy shrugged. "When we bounced off your magic you moved in front of me, it seemed to break whatever enchantment he had cast around him for me. But you were still staring at him like you were five seconds from climbing him like a tree," Lucy shot me a sly grin that made all my hair stand on end, "And this guy showed up and -"

I slapped a hand over my shit-stirring sister's mouth, glancing at Natsu to see that the boy had his brow furrowed in confusion but had obviously not caught on to what Lucy was implying. Which was that when Natsu barged in, Bora was no longer the one I wanted to 'climb like a tree'. Which was bullshit. Lucy eventually would look to the dragon-slayer as a source of orgasms, not me. I was just currently deep in the throes of extreme hero-worship.

"Did those girls hit me really hard or is there actually two of them?" Natsu was asking Happy with what seemed genuine concern for his mental state.

Rolling my eyes, I teasingly said, "We're twins, you dork," before realising I had called _Natsu_ a _dork_ and promptly removed my hand from Lucy's mount to slap it over my own in mortification.

Wow, this hero-worship thing was getting old fast.

Blinking owlishly up at me Natsu stated, "You're really weird."

And just like that, the hero-worship was gone. Farewell Creepy McCreeperson, don't call me I'll call you. Not!

"Yeah, Cassie's pretty odd," Lucy agreed as she tapped her finger against her bottom lip in thought. Recalling every instance of my apparent oddness no doubt.

The glare I shot her in response could melt steel beams.

"Aye Natsu," Happy stage-whispered to his best friend, "They're both reeeeeally weird."

"Says the talking cat," I pointed out dryly, Lucy giggle behind me in agreement. I cut her a side-glance, laughing at my jokes was _not_ getting her out of the dog-house just yet.

"I was going to ask if you two wanted to join us for lunch, y'know as thanks for distracting that creep back there," Lucy jerked a thumb over her shoulder in the direction Bora had been, a smirk playing across her glossy pink lips, "But if we're too _weird_ for you…"

* * *

As I witnessed Natsu shove an entire leg of lamb into his mouth and then remove a gleaming white bone, I concluded that eating the same way it was portrayed in anime in real-life was equal parts horrific and disgusting.

Did he even chew? Or just swallow it whole like some weird snake mutant? Regardless, I hoped that Luce pulled out a _Beauty and the Beast_ style montage soon and at least taught him the finer points of using cutlery. How he kept that scarf of his clean was beyond me. Perhaps dragon-scales repelled the dirt?

My musings were interrupted by a splatter of onion soup hitting me in the cheek. With a full-bodied shudder, I wiped the offending food away with a relatively clean napkin and tuned back into the conversation in time to hear Lucy explaining wizard guilds. Swallowing down a laugh, I broke off a piece of my buttery flaky croissant and chewed slowly as my sister continued to educate a pair of wizards from the very guild we intended to join about magic.

Deciding to step in before Lucy made more of a fool of herself I waited for my sister to quit squealing over how excited she was to be joining a guild soon before interrupting. "So," I smiled at the two Fairy Tail members across from us, "What brings you two to Hargeon? Were you looking for someone?"

"Aye!" Happy grinned around a mouthful of fish, "We're looking for Igneel!"

"Yeah," Natsu added after swallowing an entire dinner-roll, "We heard a rumour that a salamander was gonna be in town, so we came to check it out."

"Yeah," Happy added, "That guy didn't look like a salamander at all."

"No kidding," Natsu scoffed as he leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms across his chest, "I bet that poser can't even breathe fire like a real dragon."

Here it comes…

"Uhhh, I don't get it?" Lucy tilted her head in confusion, "Your friend Igneel looks like a dragon?"

"Nah, you've got it all wrong. He doesn't _look_ like a dragon, he _is_ one."

Three… two... one…

"Huh?" Lucy's jaw was slack as she gazed disbelievingly at our two companions while I tried to snicker inconspicuously behind my hand.

"Aye, Igneel's a real-live fire dragon!" Happy announced cheerfully.

"HUH?!"

Finally coming to her senses, my sister barked out, "Why would a fire-dragon show up in the middle of town?! It's totally ridiculous!"

At the sight of Natsu and Happy's gaping mouths and eyes wide in realisation, I absolutely lost it.

Clutching my belly as I shook with full-bodied laughter I would have fallen right off the seat if Luce hadn't grabbed onto my arm at the last moment and yanked me back onto the bench next to her. Pointing a shaking finger across the table at the boy and his talking cat, tears of mirth spilling over my cheeks, I sobbed, "You guys should see your faces!"

Their shocked expressions soon turned into scowls at my apparent mocking, Happy stage-whispering to Natsu, "She's mean!"

"I'm sorry," I snorted, wiping my face with a relatively clean napkin, "It's just, can you picture a _dragon_ just casually walking through town? Maybe stopping by the spa to get their scales buffed?"

Seeing the scowl on Natsu's face twitch slightly in the corners as he surely imagined Igneel having a day out on the town, I decided to apologise for making fun of him and Happy in the best way possible:

Dragon joke!

"Hey Natsu," I leaned forward across the table, dropping my voice to a conspiratorial tone. Next to me, Lucy leaned in curiously while Happy scooted closer, not noticing that he had dragged his tail through cheese sauce. "How many dragons does it take to start a fire?"

The look the boy gave me this time implied that he was legitimately concerned for my mental health, meanwhile, Lucy who knew where this was going softly groaned beside me. "Uh, one, why?" Natsu replied slowly.

"No!" I grinned at him, "Two! One to hold the flint and one to strike it with an armoured Rune Knight!"

All was silent as my three companions seemed to process the truly horrible joke I'd just made them listen to with their own two ears. Until:

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Happy toppled backwards and landed in Natsu's bowl of onion soup as he laughed so hard his little body practically vibrated.

Blankly staring at Happy for a moment, Natsu soon started loudly cackling as he clutched his sides and threw his head back. Lucy and I both stared in astonishment that they'd found my terrible joke funny. I was the one who told it and I thought it was cringe-level-10,000.

"That!" Natsu heaved between laughs, "That was - the _worst_ \- dragon - joke I've - _ever_ \- heard!"

"So bad!" Happy chortled.

I meet Natsu Dragneel and Happy. Bad joke: told. Gut: Busted. Dick: out. Lucy forcibly removes me from the restaurant.

Worried about my mental-state since meeting Natsu and Happy, Lucy pushed me out of the booth and slapped down a handful of jewel onto the table to cover lunch.

"It was really nice to meet you guys," She said relatively sincerely, while Lucy is Disney-Princess-Level 'nice' she still had a limit to how much weirdness she could handle in one day and I suspected we just hit it. "I hope you find your, um, dragon."

We had barely gotten one table-length away when Natsu and Happy gained the attention of the entire restaurant as they bowed down to the ground so low that their heads were pressed against the wooden floor-boards. "Thank you for the food!" They cried in unison causing Lucy to turn bright red in embarrassment from the attention and start wildly waving her hands around in a futile effort to get them to stop.

"Cut it out - you're embarrassing me!" She burst out, pinning me with a sharp glare that promised a world of hurt if I didn't stop snickering behind my hand. Turning back to the boys prostrating themselves before her like she was some benevolent goddess, she said, "It's fine! You helped us out earlier, I'm just returning the favour, no big deal!"

"I feel really bad though," Natsu quietly said to Happy, "I mean, we didn't mean to help them out."

"Complete accident," Happy added with a solemn nod.

"Oh, I know!" Natsu jumped upright with a grin and rooted around in his pack before pulling out the crumpled card with the fake-Salamander's garish signature scrawled across it. Thrusting it in Lucy's face he said, "You can have this!"

"Uh, no thanks," Lucy eyed it with distaste, almost as though she expected it to gain cognizance and attack her. Knowing this world, it was actually entirely possible.

Rolling my eyes, I lunged forward and plucked the card from Natsu's hand with a cheeky grin. "Excuse my sister, she'd _love_ to have this! We'll treasure it forever - frame it and hang it in our living-room for all to see!"

Leaving the two boys behind as a flustered Lucy all but dragged me out of the restaurant before I could embarrass her anymore, I felt a tinge of sadness. Reminding myself that I'd be seeing them both soon enough on a regular basis I managed to cheer myself up, an eager smile spreading across my lips.

I couldn't wait to see them again.

* * *

 **A/N: OMG I CANT BELIEVE HOW MANY REVIEWS THIS STORY HAS GOTTEN! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT IT LEGIT MEANS THE WORLD TO ME!**

 **Now, I hope this chapter was worth the wait since we've finally met Natsu! *pterodactyl screeches into the void* I'm not 100 100% sure of this chapter, so please let me know what you did and didn't like! I promise I'm gonna try my hardest not to follow canon scene for scene and word for word, but I just love the way that Lucy and Natsu met and didn't want to change it cos it's my fave hahaha**

 **As I'm sure you've noticed, I try to update once a week - generally on my Friday or Saturday (NZ Time) - but with Christmas looming ever closer and being in retail my free time is going to start drying up. So we may switch to updates every second week at some point, but I'll try not to and certainly warn you in advance if that does happen.**

 **Ink Outside The Lines: I'm glad that you're behind "Dense" Cassie when it comes to Natsu's affections haha honestly, it's gonna be the source of so much comedic frustration you have NO idea! Also, I love their relationship too! Cassie and Lucy's dynamic is actually heavily influenced by Edward and Alphonse Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist - I'm sure you can figure out which character parallels which haha**

 **.mercado: I love Cassie and Lucy too!**

 **BiscuitBrisket123: Don't worry, there will be no three-wheeling or Mary-Sue's in this here fanfiction. Or so I hope at least lol Cassie has a lot of faults, her arrogance being the main one, and I'm trying my best to make her realistic and relatable. And Lucy would NEVER get bashed, mostly because Cassie would kill them haha**

 **bangstn: Gah! I love that you like my writing style! Honestly, when I write first-person I base it a lot on my own thought process of rambles and random one-liners, so I'm stoked that you're enjoying that haha I know of a LOT of well-written NaLu works, but I agree there are few OC fics out there that have grasped my attention. I'm so glad that my little garbage-fic has grabbed yours and hopefully I keep it =)**

 **dreamerwithapen: Isn't Mama Bear Cassie THE BEST? Bet you're happy Natsu finally showed up right? Right. I can't wait for her to meet the rest of the gang too! Oooooh it's gonna be SO MUCH FUN.**

 **Guest: I love this fanfic too! haha**

 **BitterLilyz: Ahhh did this fic give you cavities? lol I'm happy you're enjoying it!**

 **MagnoliaFairyGirl: Thank you for your support! It means a lot.**

 **JuggernautJJ: Cassie's magic is a mix between Scarlet Witch and Pyslocke. It's affected by her emotions a lot and while she has the potential to be pretty darn powerful, she still needs to learn control over it. So she isn't going to be Jacked-Up-O-P at the beginning of the story, but by the GMG-arc she's gonna be S-Class level for sure. I deliberated A LOT over what kinda magic to give Cassie, and in the end decided to hell with it this is fanfiction and if I wanna give her magic based entirely on aesthetic I damn well will hahaha**

 **LeonFeneBlack: The magic exploration is DEFINITELY coming! Don't worry! And while Cassie is definitely fascinated by magic, even though her past life was in a world without it she has still experienced 16 years with it being commonplace. So she's certainly enamoured by it but it doesn't blow her mind so much as fascinate her. And please don't let the wait time devastate you! You need to be in peak reading condition when the next chapter comes out hahaha**

 **As always thank you all so much for your kind words and opinions - they legit mean the world to me and get the old writing juices flowing!**

 **Happy reading,**

 **\- susiesamurai xoxo**

 **PS: you guys outdid yourself with the number of reviews left - find your well-deserved sneak peek below!**

* * *

 **Sneak Peek: Explosions On The Playboy Yacht**

 _Sprinting down the length of a pier after a yacht was not how I had planned to spend my evening._

 _In a fit of sibling over-protectiveness, I had all but forbid Lucy from going to Bora's "soiree" when she had entered the hotel room later that afternoon babbling about how he was going to get us into Fairy Tail. Knowing the entire thing was a front for slave-trading I wanted my relatively innocent sister far far away from it._

 _Forgetting entirely that Lucy had to go in order for her and Natsu to have that first 'freeze-frame' moment of running from the Rune Knights together._

 _Guess I wasn't quite as ready to hand over the mantle of 'Lucy's Hero' as I thought I was._


	5. Explosions On The Playboy Yacht

Chapter Four

 _Explosions On The Playboy Yacht_

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail nor do I receive any form of financial gain from this work of fiction.

* * *

Sprinting down the length of a pier after a yacht was not how I had planned to spend my evening.

In a fit of sibling over-protectiveness, I had all but forbid Lucy from going to Bora's "soiree" when she had entered the hotel room later that afternoon babbling about how he was going to get us into Fairy Tail. Knowing the entire thing was a front for slave-trading I wanted my relatively innocent sister _far far_ away from it.

Forgetting entirely that Lucy had to go in order for her and Natsu to have that first 'freeze-frame' moment of running from the Rune Knights together.

Guess I wasn't quite as ready to hand over the mantle of 'Lucy's Hero' as I thought I was.

Gathering my magic around my feet, I propelled myself forward from the end of the pier with fingers outstretched. Recognising how high-strung I was, I prayed to Hiro Mashima to keep my magic under control long enough to reach Lucy. The amaranth energy surrounding me was reflected in the dark harbor waters, and I almost shouted in triumph as I reached the PlayBoy Yacht by the skin of my teeth.

Hauling myself up and over the railing, I straightened out my high-waisted black leather pants and the baggy white tank-top tucked into them. It wouldn't do to save the day with a killer wedgie.

It was difficult to stealthily navigate the "soiree" I soon discovered, my leather-clad ass standing out like a neon sign in the sea of evening dresses.

After 5 minutes my patience was gone and with a grin on my face I grabbed the nearest guard by the back of the head and drove him face-first into the wall. He connected with a sickening crack before dropping to the ground with blood smeared across his face courtesy of a broken nose.

Dusting my hands off, the sudden silence hit me like a wall as I turned to find everyone in the near-vicinity staring at me with varying expressions of shock. Flicking my ponytail over my shoulder I shrugged all "well what can you do?" to my audience with a rueful smile.

"Some guys just can't take a hint, huh?"

My action-movie moment was over soon enough, the stunned shock that kept my audience frozen all too soon wearing off. I had all but a moment until complete chaos took over the main deck of the yacht, the girls cowering in corners and very cliche looking pirates that were lurking in the shadows approaching me with varying expressions of anger and excitement.

"Looks like we've got ourselves a little party-crasher boys!"

"You're gonna regret that girlie!"

"Hey, doesn't she look like the one the boss took to his cabin?"

That last one got my attention as I settled into a fighting stance. So Lucy and Bora were already alone. I wondered how far through their conversation they had gotten? Obviously not the part where he reveals his dastardly slave-trading intentions seeing as all the girls were still blissfully enjoying the party.

Well, until I showed up that was.

Energy gathered around my twisting fingers as I eyed up my approaching opponents. As always, I loved the feeling that spread throughout my body when I actively used my magic. A comforting warmth that made me feel as though I was sinking into a bath leaving a pleasant tingling in my extremities.

I was outnumbered going on twenty-to-one and this was what you'd call my first actual battle that wasn't merely sparring. Naturally, I was nervous, but I was aiming at covering that up with a buttload of antagonistic wit. Fake it til you make it and all that.

"So, someone wanna tell me where I can find my sister?" I addressed the crowd at large.

"I'd worry about yourself first, girlie," One of the men cackled, a gold tooth glinting in the light, "I'm sure Bora's takin' good care of her."

One of the other men dragged his eyes over my body, an action that caused actual goosebumps of disgust to cover my skin. Despite the only exposed skin on my body being my arms and 4 inches of my upper thigh between the tops of my socks and the hem of my shorts, that man's stare made me feel naked.

Thankfully the insinuation about what Bora was doing with my sister caused an angry flush to spread across my skin, all but erasing the goosebumps of uncomfortable perversion.

"I'm gonna ask again," I bared my teeth in more of a snarl than a smile, "Where's my sister assholes?"

"Don't worry sweetheart," Gold-Tooth cracked his knuckles menacingly, "You'll be with her _real_ soon."

Clenching my hand into a fist in front of my chest, I smiled at the group of men in front of me before flinging it out to the side with my fingers outstretched. The smile only grew wider as purple energy coalesced around them and they were violently thrown in the direction my hand was pointing, half of them slamming into the railing of the yacht while the remainder landed in the water with a distant splash.

The main thing I loved about my magic was it's AoE damage. Especially when I was angry. Some might call it cheating, I called it making the most of my assets. The only downside was it still used up a lot of my magic, seeing as my magical container wasn't as large as I'd like it to be yet. I was still miles off of S-Class level and despite the AoE attacks more of a scrapper than a tank like most of Fairy Tail's heavy-weights.

Ignoring the groaning pirates laying in a heap to one side of the deck, I turned to the girls currently hiding beneath the tables. "You guys might wanna find something to hold onto," I told them, "This thing's gonna go down like the Titanic soon." You know, if the Titanic was violently hurtled into port by an insane fish woman.

A horrified mass-gasp was all the warning I got before large arms clamped around my torso like bands of iron, pulling me up against a hard chest so that my feet left the ground. I couldn't freaking believe that this gigantic motherfucker managed to sneak up on me. Like goddammit, I'd need to remember in future to actually make sure I'd won a battle before gloating and making one-liners.

God did the guy need a shower, he smelt like sour-milk and gym-socks. I was low-key looking forward to Aquarius' near-drowning now if it got the stench of this dude out of my nostrils.

"That wasn't very nice, girlie," He growled in my ear.

"Neither is your breath," I gasped out as his grip tightened, "But you don't see me crying like a little bitch about it."

I could feel the vibrations against my back as he rumbled in anger over my comment. Unfortunately, he was so large that I wasn't high enough to smash my head back into his face, or smack him hard enough with a heel anywhere tender enough to loosen his grasp. I started twirling my fingers, able to lift them slightly from where my hands were pressed against my thighs.

What I had planned was either going to be super cool or a great big embarrassing let down.

"I'm gonna ask Bora if I can have a little fun with you," His breath was hot against the top of my head. "You and your sister."

My skin crawled so much it left the scene and started a new life as a lumberjack in Alaska.

Furrowing my brow in concentration, sweat gathering at my temples from the effort, I pressed my now vibrating fingers hard against my thighs. Energy burst out from me in all directions in a purple shockwave, throwing Stinky-Cheese-Pirate back to land in the pile of his friends. It also knocked back every table near me in a 20-foot radius as well as blew up several of the girls' skirts Marilyn Monroe-style.

I dropped to the deck, gasping for air, astounded that my plan actually worked. If I weren't so exhausted I would've thrown my fist in the air and yelled 'That's what I'm talkin' about!'. As it was, my arms were still trembling from the exertion of channeling that much magic through them. I probably went a bit overboard if we're being honest, but in my defense, I didn't know how much force it would take to dislodge him.

Better safe than sorry.

Pushing myself to my feet, I once again addressed the frightened women in evening-wear. "Like I said, we'll be making an emergency stop back at port, find something solid to cling to." When they all stared at me with blank shock I threw my hands up in exasperation and rolled my eyes to the heavens. "Now!"

That got them moving. Trusting them to find someplace safe themselves, I went in search of Lucy.

Ignoring the shaking in my limbs I systematically checked every room in search of my sister like a chase scene in an episode of Scooby Doo. Minus being chased by some weirdo in a costume. That was the most I'd ever used my magic at one time without being able to rest afterward - I would _kill_ for some orange slices. To be frank I was still astounded any of it had worked. All I could think was that Hiro Mashima had shone some Creator's Favour down upon me so I didn't fail epically and end up molested and beaten by a pirate at the tender age of 16.

After the 5th door I checked didn't reveal my sister and Bora I was close to a full-diva _Toddlers & Tiaras_ melt-down. Anxiety ran thick through my veins and I forgot everything I knew about the first episode of _Fairy Tail_ as my entire world narrowed down to finding my sister. Once I found her I was gonna punch Bora right in his slimy little face and then strangle him with his ridiculous trousers. Why did the men in this world think that anything without a penis was their property? It was enough to drive a girl to drink.

The next door swung inwards with a twist of my wrist and revealed an angry-looking Lucy pointing an accusatory finger at Bora across a small table.

Thank the Lord!

Striding into the room as both occupants turned to stare at me slack-jawed, I grinned widely, "Some party you got going on here."

The shocked outrage that spread across Bora's face was comical and I couldn't hold in my amused snort as he squawked, "How'd you get in here?!"

Raising a quizzical brow I gestured behind me flippantly with a thumb, "Uh, the door?"

Peering past me through the open door, Bora appeared to be waiting for something and cocking my head to the side I asked, "Were you expecting someone else?"

Switching my gaze to a very confused looking Lucy I asked, "He get to the point where he revealed that this whole thing is just a scam for sex-trafficking to Bosco yet?"

"You interrupted him mid-monologue," Lucy admitted, frowning in response to the smug grin that curved my lips.

Folding my arms in superiority I replied conversationally, "What was it you said when I told you I had a bad feeling about this guy? That I was just _paranoid_? Well, who's paranoid now Lucy!"

Rolling her eyes in annoyance, we both pointedly ignored a petulant Bora demanding our attention. "But Cassie, you are _really_ paranoid sometimes!" Lucy commented, the whining tone to her voice off-setting any credibility her statement might have had otherwise.

"It's not paranoia if some creep with terrible fashion-taste is _legitimately_ trying to sell you to some fat pervert in Bosco!" I retorted, complete with exasperated hand movements. "Wasn't the illegal charm spell that _you_ figured out enough of a warning bell for you?!"

"But he's a Fairy Tail wizard!" Lucy explained with her own hand movements while in the background Bora grew progressively more red in the face. "That's the guild we want to join, Cassie!"

Goddamn my sister and her naive optimism about seeing the good in everyone. She was the _exact_ type of person the Stranger Danger talk was invented for!

"Did it ever occur to you that he was lying!" I shot back. "Think about it Luce! Fairy Tail's Salamander is not the kind of guy to throw 'soirees' on yachts. In fact that last article from Sorcerer's Weekly had a growing tally of all the property damage he had caused on missions this year alone - and we're only in March! I haven't seen this guy break a single fucking thing so far, not even a nail!"

"You -!" Lucy started before shifting the finger she had pointed at me to tap thoughtfully against her lower lip, "- may have a point."

"Hey!" Bora screamed into the silence, "Stop ignoring me!"

Both Lucy and I turned to glare at him at the same time before both shouting, "It's rude to interrupt!"

And that was when Natsu fell through the ceiling.

For all of 30 seconds, Natsu managed to pull off the badass Marvel-Movie superhero landing, until his face turned a sickly shade of green and sweat broke out on his brow as he tried not to vomit everywhere. Exhaling harshly through my nose at the ridiculousness of the honestly expected situation, the trashcan in the corner skidded to a stop in front of him with a flick of my trembling hand. I was slightly concerned about just how much energy that small movement took out of me.

With mildly detached horror we all watched as he clutched it to him like a drowning man with a life-preserver and proceeded to fill the room with the sound of his retching.

As Lucy uttered an amazed, "Pathetic," I couldn't help but agree.

Was it even possible for motion-sickness to kick in that quickly? I understood that in the anime it was used for comedic-effect, and would openly admit that the scenes featuring Natsu's unfortunate weakness often had me in stitches, but in reality, it was just plain irritating. Now I could see why everyone had little patience for it. It had only been a few minutes and I could feel my shoulders stiffening with every retch that escaped Natsu's lips.

As distracted as we were by our potential saviors fall from grace, neither Lucy or myself noticed Bora slipping out of the room. So we were taken entirely by surprise when he returned several minutes later flanked by the few of his henchman that had managed to regain consciousness after my beat down. Including, much to my dismay, Stinky-Cheese-Pirate who certainly didn't look happy to see me.

"Hey, Luce?" I asked out of the corner of my mouth, pressing against her side.

"Yeah?" Her eyes never left the men who had entered the room and were now moving to surround us.

"We need to get back to port, want to ask Aquarius to come play?"

Screwing up her face at the idea of summoning her most volatile of spirits, Lucy gave a reluctant nod, "I've got to get to some water though."

"Good thing we're on a boat surrounded by the stuff then," I grinned before whistling sharply and gaining the attention of everyone in the room but only addressing one of them, "Hey Happy, think you could get my sister out of here?"

The blue Exceed stopped rubbing a paw comfortingly over Natsu's shoulder to cock his head at me, "I dunno, she looks _really_ heavy!"

Just as Lucy's face began to flush bright red in anger at his words, he laughed loudly and wrapped his tail snugly around her waist before yanking her up through the hole Natsu left in the ceiling.

"Look after Natsu!" He called out to me over Lucy's squeals of surprise.

"Aye, sir!" I shouted back.

Looking around I found that most of the room's occupants were staring in shock either at myself, the hole in the roof, or Natsu vomiting in the trashcan. Darting over to the pink-haired boy I grabbed a fist-full of his jacket and hauled him to his feet.

"Come on, things are about to get messy - well, messier," I muttered as I made a break for the door, dragging the sickly boy behind me.

We were lucky enough to catch the pirates by surprise as I barrelled straight out the open door and into the hall, Natsu bouncing off the wall behind me as I pivoted and moved back towards the deck. I needed to find an empty room to hole ourselves up in so we'd be relatively unscathed when Aquarius went all Finishing Move on the yacht. Ignoring Natsu's moans and the sounds of our pursuers heavy foot-falls I repeated my earlier actions of checking the rooms for something suitable.

Eventually, I found something promising - a small cleaning-supply closet.

Propping Natsu up against the wall outside I proceeded to kick out all the loose items into the hall, pulling him inside with me once I deemed it safe enough. I left his half-filled trash can outside, replacing it with an empty bucket I'd found instead. Sitting him down against the far wall I leaned heavily against the door with my legs outstretched, my feet pressed firmly against the wall on either side of Natsu's hips to brace myself.

"Wha...what's goin' on?" Natsu managed to slur out as he gazed blearily at me over the rim of his bucket. "Why're we in a clo-closet?"

Holding my hands in front of me as though there was an imaginary ball between them, I concentrated on manifesting my magic between them. "Because," I answered with my face screwed up in frustration as my magic kept snuffing itself out, "I don't have enough magic left to put a barrier around the entire boat."

"Ba-barrier?" Natsu frowned in confusion before violently retching once more.

"Yeah," I replied absently as purple energy sputtered in and out of existence between my fingers, "Aquarius is about to toss us into port and I would rather arrive unscathed."

Letting out a crow of triumph I grinned wide as the purple energy between my hands grew steadily stronger. Slowly expanding the space between I watched as the magic pulsed, eventually pushing out to encase the room in a purple glow. It felt warm and comforting as the rippling energy illuminated the small room, casting undulating shadows across the pair of us.

Sweat gathered at my temples and tickled the back of my neck with the effort of maintaining the barrier when my magical energy was so depleted already. However, I'd achieved this last Herculean achievement just in time as the yacht was violently thrown to one side and only my feet braced against the wall stopped me from being sprawled over Natsu. Who was now looking even paler, the purple glow giving him an almost unearthly appearance.

"If you throw up on me," I threatened through gritted teeth as I looked down at him through my bangs, "I will kill you."

A nauseous dragon-slayer to the face was what I received for my threat of bodily harm as the yacht came to a sudden stop.

While I had braced myself to avoid this myself, Natsu had instead wrapped himself around the bucket so when he was dislodged there was nowhere for him to go but forward. I had the bucket wedged between my legs and digging into my lower stomach while my nose was smashed hard up against Natsu's chest in a way that I was legitimately concerned it could be broken.

"Hell yeah!" Natsu sprung away from me with an enthusiasm that belied the fact that he had been near-death moments earlier as the boat finally ceased movement. "Let's get off this death-trap!" One fist was thrust into the air as he towered over me with an ear-splitting grin.

Pushing the bucket away from me I rubbed my lower abdomen and pelvic bone with a grimace twisting my face. "Jesus Christ I think you broke my vagina," I muttered to myself as my nose tingled, "and my nose."

"I did what?!" Natsu stared down at me in alarmed confusion, obviously knowing what my words implied but unsure of how they applied to him.

"Cool your jets," I groaned as I dragged myself upright, leaning heavily against the door, "Come on buddy, let's go beat up some bad guys!"

"Yosh!" Once again his fist was thrust into the air as his eyes were bright with excitement, "I'm all fired up!"

My eyes flew wide as Natsu lifted his knee to his chest and I flung myself to the side just in time to avoid being kicked through the door as his foot collided with the wood. Cackling loudly he took off down the hall as I gaped at him from the busted doorway, too shocked to react. That being said, I should have expected something like that after hearing his catch-phrase. Those four words generally preceded some random act of destruction.

"Wow, that's some recovery period," I stated as his head of pink-hair got further away.

Just when he rounded the corner I realized I'd just been standing there staring at him. "Hey! Wait up!" I called after him, ignoring the twinges of pain in my stomach as I took off after him at a run.

Running out onto the deck I dropped instantly to avoid the body Natsu inadvertently sent flying my way, already in the thick of battle, it appeared. Pushing myself up onto my feet I ignored the groaning mess behind me as urgently searched for my sister.

"Lucy!" I shouted as I made my way to the railing, knowing she wouldn't be on the yacht with me but instead somewhere on the ground. "Luce where are you?!"

"Cassie!" I heard my sister shout back, pinpointing her several yards away taking refuge behind some rubble with Happy the pair of them absolutely soaking wet. "Over here!"

"Praise Jesus hallelujah!" I laughed in relief that she was unharmed.

Gingerly climbing over the railing I dropped down into what looked like a carnage-filled battlefield, my magic flaring around my feet to cushion my landing. In the background, Bora was screaming as Natsu ate his fire-magic and Lucy's face drained of color as she realized that _Natsu_ was the Salamander of Fairy Tail all this time.

Skidding to a stop by Lucy and Happy I dropped down behind the rubble and joined in on watching Natsu's spree of gleeful destruction.

"Natsu's from Fairy Tail," Lucy told me vacantly, still in shock it seemed.

Letting out a short bark of laughter I grinned at my sister, "Well, ain't that a fucking plot-twist."

"He's the Salamander of Fairy Tail," she continued, I was unsure if she was trying to convince me or herself.

"Hey," I nudged her with my shoulder, trying to shake her out of her thoughts, "Do you think he'll mind us tagging along once he's done kicking this guys ass?"

As though Natsu had heard my words an ear-splitting _gong_ filled the air as Bora was sent flying into the bell-tower.

"Uh oh," Happy softly sang from where he was perched on the rubble next to Lucy's head, "Looks like the Rune Knights are here!"

We became acutely aware of the rhythmic heavy footfalls of people marching in armor rapidly approaching us. Sharing a glance of anxious terror at the idea of getting caught by the Councils dogs, I tugged Lucy out from behind our hiding place and nearly dislocated my neck trying to locate Natsu. We needed to get out of there and we needed to get out of there _now_.

"Shit Luce," I teased to stop her from getting too worked up, "It's the fuzz!"

Lucy was suddenly yanked forward into a dead-sprint, my tight grip on her wrist the only thing stopping her from being torn out of my grasp as she was dragged behind Natsu.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" Lucy shrieked as I stumbled trying to keep up with the punishing pace Natsu was setting.

Easy for him, he didn't take a dragon-slayer propelled bucket to the crotch not even 15 minutes ago.

"You guys wanted to join Fairy Tail didn't you?" He grinned over his shoulder, bright white teeth glittering in the lamplight, "Well let's go!"

A hysterical giggle bubbled it's way up my throat as we continued our mad dash down the cobbled streets of Hargeon, Lucy soon joining in with me. The sounds of our mirth reverberated around us and Natsu was quick to follow with gleeful cackling of his own, Happy swooping down above our heads giggling at how crazy we sounded.

I didn't care though because we were going to Fairy Tail.

* * *

 **A/N: Hi guys, sorry this chapter took so long to get out! I had a little bit of self-doubt about this story for a little while and work got kinda intense so that's my excuses for the delay. I really hope you're all still enjoying it though and that this chapter was worth the wait! Please let me know what you like and what you'd like to see more of so I can work it in. And also remember that this story is NOT meant to take it's self seriously.**

 **No sneak peek this time as I am uploading this literally as soon as I finished writing it so you wouldn't be kept waiting any longer. Big thanks to the following for reviewing, let me know if you'd like me to personally respond to your reviews as opposed to at the end of the following chapters.**

 _ **BiscuitBrisket123, FictionalOtakuRubbish, dreamerwithapen, Ink Outside The Lines, EnchantedDreamerr, Isafish, JuggernautJJ, AnonChan1, Ace of Ashes, guest.**_

 **Thank you for your kind and constructive words of encouragement and criticism.**

 **As always, happy reading.**

 **\- susiesamurai xo**


	6. Welcome To The Family

**Chapter Five**

 _Welcome To The Family_

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail, nor do I receive any form of financial gain from this work of fiction.

* * *

"This is my life now," Lucy panted as she stood bent bracing her hands against her thighs, "I have climbed this hill and now I will die upon it."

Rolling my eyes I bit back a laugh as I patted my sister's shoulder on my way past, "Stop being so dramatic - we've only been hiking for half-an-hour."

"Today!" Lucy burst out as she turned her suddenly burning gaze to the back of Natsu pink-head. I was actually surprised the dragonslayers head didn't burst into flame. "This is our second day of walking because someone can't handle a train." Her voice took on a whining quality, "The great Salamander of Fairy Tail laid low by transportation - it's pathetic!"

"Casssshhhhieeee!" Happy swooped low over my head with his eyes large and glistening with crocodile-tears. "Lushy's being meaaaaaaaaan!"

Waving my hand around I dismissed Happy's complaints with a flippant shrug of my shoulder. "She's not being mean," I pointed out, "Just brutally honest - it's, well, it's a different shade of mean."

Dumbfounded at my utter lack of concern on Natsu's behalf, Happy dropped to the ground with a loud "Wah!"

Peering down at the Exceed I quirked an eyebrow, the thick Dutch-Braid I'd twisted my hair into that morning slipping over my shoulder as I leaned forward. "No one likes a tattle-tale Happy," I smirked.

"Yeah, stupid cat!" Lucy chimed in from behind me, apparently having caught her breath.

Travelling with Natsu so far had definitely been an experience.

Because of his obvious abhorrence of all forms of transport, we had come to the grudging agreement that we would accompany him back to Fairy Tail on foot. On the condition that he prepares dinner for every evening we were camping out. That arrangement was quickly thrown out the window the first night we were presented with what I had come to call Flaming-Charcoal-Lumps-Of-Hell and actually expected to eat it. Following that complete and utter disaster, I had soon become Designated-Chef as voted by Lucy.

We had also then discovered that Natsu snored like a rusted chainsaw, alarming both Lucy and I when he fell silent only to wake up choking. Hands down, the most terrifying experience of my life so far. Natsu's also, I suspect, if the way he lit himself on fire after opening his eyes to find the two of us staring down at him in concerned horror.

Looking ahead I found that Natsu was already at the bottom of the hill, apparently not caring whether we were right behind him or not. With a grin, I latched onto Lucy's hand and tucked Happy under my other arm, "Come on guys, we're losing!"

Taking off at a run, Lucy stumbling behind me, her voice calling out, "But it's not a raaaaaace!"

My gleeful whoops of laughter filled the early morning air as we ran past a surprised looking Natsu, clouds of dust kicking up from where my boots impacted against the dirt road. "You coming, slowpoke?" I called over my shoulder, the look of dumbfounded shock on Natsu's face quickly morphing into something fierce and competitive.

"You're gonna regret that!" He cackled as he broke into a run, easily gaining on us thanks to Lucy's dragging heels.

Face scrunched up in concentration I quickly came to a decision, spinning to a stop and throwing a completely unaware Happy at Natsu's face. "Catch!" I shouted once the Exceed was clinging to his best friend's head, blue hair standing up on end.

Grinning at a panting Lucy I turned my back to her, "Come on Luce, up you go! No way we're gonna win with you in those shoes."

I knew the child-like glee in her eyes were reflected in my own as my sister clambered onto my back, gripping tightly to my shoulders as my hands hooked behind her knees.

"That was cheating!" Natsu roared as I took off down the road with Lucy bouncing against me.

"No such thing as dirty in a fight!" I called back over Lucy's shrieks of happiness, knowing he'd pick up my words with his dragonslayer hearing.

"Come back and say that to my face!"

While running away from an indignant dragonslayer wasn't how I would have picked to have spent my morning, I had to admit it wasn't that bad. This right here was what Lucy and I had been missing while locked up in that gilded cage by our father. Sure, my muscles were burning with the strain of carrying my sister's weight while running, my lungs felt like they were one too-sharp breath away from shattering, and I was fairly certain my face was such a bright red it was visible from space.

But we were having fun.

Zigzagging across the road, twirling out of the way of Natsu's outstretched hands, I honestly couldn't recall the last time I had smiled so hard my face hurt. Or when Lucy was laughing with so much enthusiasm that she was snorting as she pushed herself up straight and waved one hand wildly in the air as Happy kept tickling her with his tail. In that moment it was easy to forget about the years of abuse we had suffered together up until now and just act like normal 16-year-olds.

Well, as normal as 16-year-old mages could ever get.

* * *

Magnolia was magnificent.

It reminded me of a quaint town in the south of France, with cobble-stoned streets, canals, and townhouses with planter-boxes overflowing with flowers on the windows. Everyone was friendly as we made our way through the streets leading to the guild-hall we could just see the top of on the opposite side of the town. The bells in Kardia Cathedral behind us tolling to announce that it was approaching noon.

It felt like a dream.

Next, to me Lucy was chewing nervously on her bottom lip and I caught her fingers with mine, lacing them together and shooting her a confident grin. Sure, when we had imagined joining Fairy Tail it was a lot more dignified than the current reality. Tired and sweaty, with dirt on our knees and bits of grass tangled in our hair accompanied by an equally rumpled boy and his cat. But this was our reality, and honestly, in my opinion, it was even better.

It was like an even bigger Fuck-You to our douchebag father.

"WE'RE ALIVE!"

Natsu's foot slammed into the front doors of the guild-hall, causing them to hit the inner walls with a boom that reverberated through the large room.

There was a chorus of voices calling out to Natsu, welcoming him home and asking how his trip went before turning back to what they were doing. After a comically long moment, however, all eyes were back on where Lucy and I stood holding hands in the doorway and a flurry of whispers reached our ears.

"Natsu brought home a girl - two girls!"

"Do you think they're okay?"

"Maybe he kidnapped them? Hey girls, if you fear for your lives blink twice!"

"Bet Natsu doesn't even know they're girls!"

"The one in the skirt's pretty cute - the other one has a scary face!"

During this Natsu was storming over to a man with unfortunately large buck-teeth who was leering at the boy over his shoulder. "Hey Natsu, guess you found something in Hargeon huh?" Waggling thick eyebrows he added, "two somethings," just before Natsu Sparta-kicked him in the face.

Buck-Teeth went flying into a table on the other side of the room as Natsu roared, "That info you gave me on Salamander was fake, you asshole!"

And just like that, all Hell broke loose.

Apparently, all it takes to start a brawl is kicking a grown man into a table. Suddenly mages from all over the hall were jumping into the fray, magic flying left and right around the room. Holding tight to Luce's hand I pulled her further into the room, approaching the bar where I could see Mirajane cleaning glasses with a cloth. Completely unfazed by the carnage ensuing around her - just another Tuesday at Fairy Tail I guessed. She would be the person to talk to about joining up.

"This place is insane!" Lucy exclaimed with a smile that could light up Magnolia after dark, "I love it!"

We pulled up short as a tall dark-haired boy suddenly stood up in front of us growling, "Natsu's back huh?"

Eyes raking over him from top to bottom, I took in his classically handsome face that was all sharp-lines and intense dark-blue eyes; taut muscles covered by pale skin marred only by a navy guild-mark on his left pec. And more pale skin. So much pale skin because the boy was standing there in nothing but a cross pendant on a chain and his fucking boxers.

"That bastard owes me a rematch on our last fight!" The boy proclaimed in a deep voice as he bravely approached the roiling mass of limbs surrounding Natsu.

"Gray!" A female voice drawled, "Your clothes."

"The Hell?!" Gray screeched, only just becoming aware of his state of undress.

"Look away child!" I cried dramatically as I flung a hand over my sister's alarmingly pink face while my eyes roamed over every inch of exposed flesh Gray currently had on display. I was a healthy young woman and there was absolutely nothing wrong with my admiring and appreciating the view.

And lord did I appreciate it.

"Put some clothes on ya perve!" Natsu's voice sounded from within the dust-cloud. "I ain't fighting you naked!"

Leaning close to Lucy, I whispered in her ear, "Imagine that Luce - they could call it Fairy Tail Boys Gone Wild."

Just like that Lucy was glowing red like a tomato, pink long thrown to the wayside, while I sniggered at her reaction. An arm hooked itself around my neck and I was pulled flush against a scantily clad torso. My face was pressed against the swell of an impressive bust stuffed into a blue bikini top and soft brown hair tickled my arm.

"I like the way you think, babe," The same female voice from before drawled in my ear.

Chancing a glance up I saw violet eyes peering down at me with a mischievous glint that matched thin lips pulled into a smirk. The girl was definitely pretty with a face that was all soft curves that turned into something dangerous when paired with her voice. The scent of ale fell from her lips and brushed my face, thick and heady.

"Ugh, don't encourage her!" Lucy grumbled as she tugged me free from the other girl's grip, now being the one to pull me along to the bar.

Waving at the girl I was 90% sure was Cana I called, "Don't worry sweetheart, that was just a warm-up!" Receiving a salacious wink and grin in return.

I felt at home already.

Back when I was Rory Ryder I had been a bit of an attention-whore, sometimes saying and doing the most ridiculous and outrageous things just to get a reaction. A trait that hadn't disappeared once I become Cassie Heartfilia. Here in Fairy Tail, it seemed I had found my people. People who were just as extra as I was.

"Oh my God! You two are just the cutest things ever!"

The high-pitched squeal had both me and Lucy leaping a near foot in the air as we turned to find Mirajane gazing down at us with what I swear were sparkles around her head. Seriously, her blue eyes were so large they took up half her face and glimmered with excitement. Perfect pink lips were pulled into a wide grin that made me feel the slightest bit uncomfortable in its intensity as she clasped her hands beneath her chin.

"So, you both came with Natsu huh?" Her face turned sly, belaying the saccharine voice dripping from her lips. "Natsu's never brought a girl home before, let alone two."

Shaking off the stupor that Mirajane's sudden bombardment had thrown me into I replied with a sly smirk of my own, "Dragon-Boy doesn't even know what a girl is, I highly doubt that he knows what to do with two."

"Cassie!" Lucy gasped beside me, slapping me lightly on the arm in admonishment at my brash insinuation.

Meanwhile, Mirajane continued grinning unnervingly at me with a calculating look in her eyes that I definitely Did Not Trust.

"Sorry Luce," I nudged my embarrassed sister with my shoulder, offering up a silent apology for what I was about to do, "I wouldn't dream of coming between you and Natsu."

Was it sneaky? Yes. Underhanded? Definitely. Completely and utterly justified to make sure Mirajane didn't get it in her head to play matchmaker between the dragonslayer and myself? Damn skippy.

A wistful expression drifted across Mirajane's face and I somehow just knew that she was picturing little blonde and pink-haired babies. Hopefully, I was there only in the context of being the Vodka Aunt to Luce and Natsu's hordes of chibi spawn.

In a blatant subject change, Lucy gestured wildly to the brawl that had demolished at least 1 third of the guilds furniture and said in a too-loud voice, "Uh, shouldn't you be stopping them?"

"Hmm?" Mirajane cocked her head to the side in confusion, "Why would I do that? It's always like this."

"Because they're destroying your guild-hall!" Lucy waved her arms around as she tried to get the white-haired woman to understand that what was happening wasn't normal. Well, to girls raised in high-society anyway. Plus Lucy had always been a bit of a clean-freak. I still remember the day she divided our bedroom with a literal line because she was fed up with the fact that I didn't arrange my cosmetics and perfumes on the vanity the correct way. It lasted all of 4 hours once she realised the door to the bathroom was on my side of the line.

"But it's fun!" Mirajane beamed at my sister, silver hair moving in a delicate cloud around her shoulders as she bounced on her toes.

Fun. Like Hell is just a sauna.

"A total hoot," I agreed with a wry grin, "Now, I hear you're the lady to talk to if we're interested in joining?"

"Absolutely!" If it were possible she got even sparklier. I may need to invest in sunglasses if this was a common occurrence. "Follow me and we'll get you both all signed up!"

"Come on Luce!" I linked my arm through hers and tugged, wondering why she had gone all unresponsive all of a sudden.

"Hu-hu-huge!" She stammered out, staring wide-eyed at the monstrous figure cast dramatically in shadow that had filled the guild-hall.

"Huh," Mirajane said thoughtfully, tapping a manicured finger against her plump bottom lip, "Guess Master was here."

"Master?!" Luce gasped, her eyes comically large and round as she gaped at what appeared to be the silhouette of the Balrog from the first Lord Of The Rings movie.

It was impressive how quickly everyone else had made themselves scarce, leaving the three of us to watch as an oblivious Natsu crowed his victory without the slightest clue of the danger he was in. Lucy opened her mouth to either warn him or freak out some more but snapped it shut with an audible click at my crooked grin.

Just as a foot the size of a Hummer was about to squish Natsu into a little pink pancake, I swiped my hand to the side and sent him flying into Lucy in a cloud of purple light. Both went tumbling backward with a surprised grunt from Natsu and an enraged shriek from my sister.

What? Like I was really going to let him get flattened. I'm not that much of a dick. But I am enough of a dick to literally throw him at my sister. Totally by accident, of course. I was just looking out for a soft place for Natsu to land.

Impressed at the display of magical ability I watched as the Balrog began to shrink down into the shape of a little old man who would be lucky to reach my navel. He certainly didn't help himself by dressing in orange and blue striped clothes completely with curly-toed Aladdin shoes and a slouched beanie that gave him the appearance of having floppy bunny ears. There was a certain eccentricity to him that made it so I wouldn't be surprised to find a collection of interestingly patterned socks next to his surely extensive library of porno-mags.

Here was Master Makarov Dreyar. The midget, the pervert, the legend.

I winced as he smashed into the railing of the second-floor mezzanine while trying to execute a double backflip from the middle of the guild-hall floor. We could also add 'uncoordinated' to the list of adjectives listed after his name I guessed.

A hand gripped my braid and yanked, making me come face-to-face with a very flushed, very annoyed Lucy. Looking behind her I saw that Natsu was splayed on the floor with what appeared to be a rather large red handprint on his left cheek. Ouch.

"What's the big idea, huh Cassie?" My sister hissed at me, her eyes narrowed.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I blinked, my face the picture of innocence.

"Oh, you know!"

"What happened to his face?" I raised an eyebrow, hoping to distract her from plans of revenge on me by focusing on Natsu.

"That's because the pervert groped me after you flung him at me like a freaking bowling ball!"

Thankfully I was spared having to reply to that quite frankly hilarious statement by Master Makarov deciding it was the perfect time for a random rousing speech to motivate the troops.I wondered if these kinda feel-good pep-talks were commonplace in Fairy Tail.

"Listen up brats, you did it again!"

Everyone in the guildhall stared up at the tiny man brandishing what appeared to be a roll of paperwork like one would a newspaper at a naughty dog.

"Do you know what these are?" Cue exuberant shaking of the rolled up paperwork, Makarov almost plummeting after over-correcting himself on a particularly emotional shake. "Documents from the council - documents full of complaints about us! Do you know how taxing it is constantly dealing with the council's hate-mail?!"

All of the upturned faces in the guild at least had the grace to look slightly apologetic to their guild-masters plight. That or they were concerned that he was about to have a coronary with how red his little face had gotten. Plus was it normal for a mustache to twitch that much?

"However…" His arms were flung out dramatically and he swayed dangerously on top of the railing before all eyes were drawn to the papers in his hand bursting into flame. "The council is full of idiots!"

Amen to that! Down with the League Of Magical Nitwits! My inner cheerleader was interrupted by Lucy almost knocking me to the ground, Natsu shoulder-checking her in his excitement to consume the flaming complaints that Makarov had tossed into the air. Wrapping an arm tight around my sister, almost suffocating her in my cleavage before she clawed herself free, I glared at the pink-haired boy who had launched himself across the room like a dog after a frisbee.

Ah, such grace, such beauty, my future brother-in-law everyone.

Smiling widely at everyone around us thrusting their index-finger high into the air I gleefully joined in with my soon-to-be guildmates as they let out a rousing:

"WE ARE FAIRY TAIL!"

* * *

 **A/N: Hi guys thank you for being so patient! I apologize that this chapter is a little bit shorter than usual but I didn't want to make you guys wait any longer and if I kept going it was gonna be SUPER long so I think it's best we leave it there to continue into the next chapter.**

 **I want to give a HUGE shout-out to Anon-Chan who has honestly been the sweetest and most encouraging little bean ever! I seriously look forward to all your questions and enjoy the challenge of having to think about different outcomes for Cassie and Waking Up Slow.**

 **Also, I've been getting a lot of Anon-Asks on my Tumblr about WUS and Cassie and whoever that is - thank you for loving my creations as much as me and bringing a smile to my face everytime I see you in my inbox!**

 **I really really hope you all enjoyed this chapter, even though not an awful lot happens in it, and I look forward to seeing you next time! Hopefully with a bit more action for you all too!**

 **\- susiesamurai xoxo**


	7. Authors Note - Correct One!

Hi Guys!

After much consideration, I've decided to rewrite this fic. I have been struggling with inspiration for a long time, shown by lack of updates, and I would rather turn this into something I enjoy than continue at it and eventually hate it. I've fallen out of love with the idea of a reincarnation fic, the rewrite will be just a regular twinfic. I think part of the problem is I'm struggling with coinciding Cassie as this grown adult in a teenagers body and I've grown uncomfortable with the thought of pairing her with people physically her age but not mentally. Unfortunately I jumped into this fic without any planning and to me it shows. I thank all of you for your reviews and support and hope you stick around for Cassie's new journey.

If you're upset or disappointed by this news, I understand also.

If you'd like me to post in here when I release the new version, let me know =)

\- susiesamurai xoxo


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